Meet Kerry Krull of Romancing the bean cafe’ and The New deal

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kerry Krull.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Well, my father was an entrepreneur, so I guess I was born & raised with that spirit! He had NO FEAR! So when I was younger, I made most of my income in the restaurant business.

I was pretty good at it and always seemed to have a bit of a following whether I was a waitress, cocktail waitress of bartender. However I was often dissatisfied with either the way it was being run or the owners or The Management and of course like all employees I thought I could do better, but more than that I had a desire to do something on my own, my own creation.

I was a single mother and couldn’t bare the thought of my kids growing up telling their friends their mom was a bartender, waitress, etc. So I was determined to get something going, build a legacy for my children. I started out with no experience or education in running my own business, my only experience was working in restaurants so with a wing & a prayer started out in a 500 sq ft space across from Warner Bros. and Romancing the bean was born!

I had a cast of characters (literally) from across the street as well as regulars from the Neighborhood and did pretty well for my first couple of years we would get huge orders for the cast of “Friends,” every Friday night and other shows as well along with a host of other Celebs but it did not come without some very expensive trials and tribulations!

Also, I was burning the candle at both ends. Although I had the entrepreneur gene, I wasn’t totally crazy! I had two kids to feed, so I kept my Nightime cocktail waitress gig at the local pub to pay the bills.

Eventually, I was able to grow into a larger space in an up and coming neighborhood called Magnolia Park which took a little longer to Up and Come, and it was a bit of a struggle, so I took a gigantic leap of faith and moved to an even BIGGER space in downtown Burbank under some newly developed Condos which was amazing for a minute until 2008 Struck!

And between a greedy landlord and a crooked contractor, I took a Nose dive! Lost the whole Shebang, ball of wax, kit and caboodle, you get the idea. I was bankrupt, had Chronic fatigue, in a lawsuit with my Crooked contractor, broke up with my then boyfriend and had to move out but the absolute WORST part of it all… is I had to go back to work for a 25-year-old B*%@# that had no clue and I was losing my mind so guess what?

Back to the drawing board! I really found some investors and found a spot back in Magnolia Park where things were picking up a tad and started ALL over again with nothing and from nothing (like coffee Ashes from the Phoenix!)

My friends and family were highly against it they could not bear to watch me go through the hellish last few years again EVER! Did I mention during the downtown episode of RTB I was also going to culinary school at night? I graduated, turned fifty and lost my Restaurant all within about a 2-week span (buzz Kill) Ya it was Brutal.

Anyway moving forward I am now a Chef.. have had the current RTB since 2012 have won best coffee shop in Burbank every year we’ve been open, Best Chef for both my Restaurants 2017, Green spotlight award for Sustainable practices in both Restaurants, and 2018 My proudest award yet “Outstanding Businesswomen of the year.”

In 2016, with the help of my two children, the three of us and my Son in law opened a Sister restaurant together called “The New Deal” a 30’s themed restaurant with elevated 30’s style comfort food which targets the theme of the Neighborhood which has Antique stores and Retro shops as well.

My daughter is the design genius of both restaurants, my son hand picks all our craft beers, does social media, General Manages (but is really an Actor) don’t tell him I told you that! And I’m the Exec Chef that does all the Menu planning, and hand picks all out amazingly delicious Boutique wines and by hand pick I mean I drink… each and every one! (haha it’s fun)

Has it been a smooth road?
Good God No! Smooth? What’s that? I don’t think you would have really put any sweat in the game if there were no struggles, I mentioned a few in the previous question. It’s a financial roller coaster ride! Especially in my business anything could happen, and anything goes… Totally unpredictable. There’s also a ton of stress involved, sleepless nights No life least for a while. You really have to be prepared for anything!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Romancing the bean cafe’ and The New deal story. Tell us more about the business.
Romancing the bean cafe is a European upscale Cafe’ coffee shop, but it’s so much more than that… we serve local &, organic as much as we can and everything is made from scratch it’s all-encompassing its Ambiance (thanks to my daughter) its delicious food (Mua).

I do a bit of everything I used to do most of the cooking while Managing and running the business, but it got to be too much once I opened the other restaurant. I did both menus and tried to come up with seasonal specials.

What sets us apart is we care what we are serving people; it’s not crap! Its clean food and comfort food at the same time and we like to make our customers Happy! We are definitely a local favorite.

The New Deal is the Grown-up version of Romancing the bean! (hee hee)

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
It already has changed tremendously in the last 5 years, so much so that it is hard to keep up with ALL the new laws, rules and regulations, minimum wage issues, tax issues, and landlord issues.

Its dizzying! I can only hope that we can find a way to make it better instead of worse for the Mom & Pops Businesses or we are going to end up with nothing but chain Restaurants and that would be a Tragedy!

 

Contact Info:

• Address: 3413 W. Magnolia Blvd, Burbank Ca.91505 (Romancing the Bean Cafe’)
  3501 W. Magnolia Blvd Burbank, Ca.91505 (The New Deal)
• Website: Romancing the bean / The New deal
• Phone: 818 845-2326 / 818 861-7731
• Instagram: @romancing the bean/@ the new deal
• Facebook: @romancing the bean/ @the newdeal

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